This large and really interesting 19th century building close to the tumbling river in the fabulous hamlet of Newburgh (the limestone homes such a pale yellow here, the trees so green, the bakery and ice cream shop so impossible to drive by)...

These are good times to live in Prince Edward County, it would seem. Artist Don Maynard and writer Melanie Dugan moved there from Kingston this summer. And a couple of years back it was teacher Keri Nelson and filmmaker Lenny Epstein. I don’t know if that move was countered by others moving this way, to Kingston, but I’d say the County did pretty well. Lenny is now a councilor there too, and his is a good and progressive voice.

SOLD! I read of a study once that suggested the intense scent of lemons could provoke happiness, cause great blooms of activity in the human mood centres, at least as they are picked up by the MRI machines. So I promptly went out and bought a dozen Meyer lemons, put them in a nice bowl on the kitchen counter.

OFF THE MARKET. This extraordinary triplex is just a ten minute walk from Queen’s campus and less than that to the heart of downtown, to grocery stores, restaurants etc. It’s as fine, and as interesting, as any rental property I’ve seen. So there you go.

It’s fall and I have some new listings. It’s busy out there. First up are a couple of homes on Bagot St, between Charles and James, specifically numbers 618 and 628. Buy one or buy them both. (There’s a real advantage to picking up both of these properties, by the way, but I’ll get to that in a bit.)

OFF THE MARKET. January 2014. This is a good property, and an exciting listing for me (here it is). But it strikes me that it’s a challenging spot too. It’s an opportunity, and I suppose it’s a risk too. It’s a no-brainer and it’s also complicated. So let’s start at the beginning.